blame

blame vb reprehend, reprobate, condemn, denounce, censure, *criticize

Analogous words: *accuse, charge, indict, impeach: impute, attribute, *ascribe: implicate, *involve

Contrasted words: exonerate, vindicate, *exculpate, absolve, acquit: *excuse, remit, forgive

blame n Blame, culpability, guilt, fault are comparable when they mean responsibility for misdeed or delinquency.

Blame is a term of shifting denotations, sometimes meaning the reprehension, criticism, or censure of those who find fault or judge one's work or acts

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I have never desired praise ... I have been indifferent to, if not indeed contemptuous of, blame— Ellis

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or sometimes a charge or accusation of some fault, misdeed, or delinquency

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fear of incurring blame in Wiltstoken for wantonly opposing her daughter's obvious interests— Shaw

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When the term denotes responsibility for wrongdoing or delinquency, it also implies the meriting of reproof, censure, or the appropriate penalty

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he took on himself all the blame for the project's failure

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they tried to shift the blame for their defeat

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Often the term means ultimate rather than immediate responsibility

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the blame [for backwardness in American education] has sometimes been put, and with some justice, upon our migratory habits and upon the heterogeneous character of our population— Grandgent

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Culpability usually means little more or no more than the fact or the state of being responsible for an act or condition that may be described as wrong, harmful, or injurious

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they could not prove his culpability for the accident

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as if the estrangement between them had come of any culpability of hers— Dickens

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an inescapable responsibility rests upon this country to conduct an inquiry . . . into the culpability of those whom there is probable cause to accuse of atrocities and other crimes— R. H. Jackson

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Guilt usually carries an implication of a connection with misdeeds of a grave or serious character from the moral and social points of view. Also it usually implies a deserving of severe punishment (as condemnation, loss of freedom, or, in the case of sin, loss of salvation) or of a definite legal penalty (as a fine, imprisonment, or death). Therefore, when the term denotes responsibility for a crime or sin, it also carries implications of need of proof before punishment can be determined or forgiveness granted

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though she was strongly suspected of murder, her guilt was not established until after her death

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since he admitted his guilt, he saved the state the cost of a trial

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to confess one's sins is to acknowledge one's guilt for those sins

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Fault (see also FAULT 2) is often used in place of culpability as a simpler word

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the fault is her parents', not the child's

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{

the fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves, that we are underlings— Shak.

}

Analogous words: responsibility, accountability, answerability (see corresponding adjectives at RESPONSIBLE): censure, con-demnation, denunciation, reprehension (see corresponding verbs at CRITICIZE)

Contrasted words: commendation, compliment (see corresponding verbs at COMMEND): *applause, acclaim, plaudits, acclamation